Do you have what it takes to be a Fight Night warrior? Fight Night is back - for our 12th year - on 23 May 2019. 18 fearless channel contenders will once again immerse themselves into the brutal world of boxing to raise money for their chosen charities.

Change is coming, as Microsoft is introducing new and extended support and service requirements for direct sellers. These new conditions will come at considerable cost to some partners - financially and in both time and manpower.

Download now to understand how the Microsoft CSP changes will impact your organisation.

To grow, to remain relevant to the customers, and to remain profitable, IT channels (in all their forms) will have to master a number of business model transformations in the cloud and digital transformation era. Read more to learn about the key transformations that IT channels will need to address, in order to bring new capabilities to customers and be successful in the future.

Teach customers about data breach fines

Rafferty: Sophos has partnered a law firm to help in the education process

Recent high-profile losses of government data have caused concern among the
UK public. There are now several high-profile databases from which information
could go missing, such as a national DNA database, which contains the genetic
records of more than four million UK citizens.

However, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) from 6 April has had the
power to fine organisations up to £500,000 if they seriously breach the Data
Protection Act.

Action will now be taken if the ICO is convinced a breach was deliberate, if
the risk of the breach was known, if those in charge of the information at risk
knew a breach might cause substantial damage or distress, and that the
controller failed to take action to prevent it.

Data protection must therefore be a priority for any organisation. It is
unacceptable to be careless and cavalier with personal information. The ICO
hopes the substantial fines will act as a strong deterrent and heighten a sense
of responsibility within organisations that harvest and store personal data.

We believe the public should insist that personal data harvesting and storage
be controlled by legislation, judicial authorisation and consultation with
security experts.

As such, we recently teamed up with a law firm to educate our network of
partners and customers around the risks relating to IT security breaches.

Our channel partners are on the front line, trying to keep our customers
fully informed on how to stay safe and protect themselves from prosecution in
the event of a major data breach.

Resellers must have the knowledge and tools to truly articulate the risk, to
impress on their customers the importance of adequate safeguards, and advise on
the best course of action if a breach occurs.

Breakfast briefings, quarterly security forums, and white papers can all help
with the education process. Organisations will require guidance on risk
mitigation through implementing the right technologies.